Save the Children Scales up Response in Education and Child Protection in Syrian Conflict March 15, 2015 “The children of Syria are at risk of becoming a ‘lost generation’ and cannot be ignored. It is our obligation to give them hope for a better future.” - Carolyn Miles, CEO of Save the Children
The Emergency Today, the world will mark four years since the onset of Syria’s civil war. According to the Syria scorecard compiled by 21 humanitarian and human rights organizations, including Save the Children, 2014 was the worst year yet. UN resolutions meant to secure protection and help for civilians were passed last year – and yet the situation has worsened. Humanitarian needs have increased by more than a third, but access has been diminished. More people were killed last year than at any other point in the conflict (76,000), bringing the total to nearly 220,000. At least 7.6 million people, including 3.5 million children, are displaced within Syria and an increasing number are being forced into informal settlements with little access to even basic services. In addition, the UN High Commissioner of Refugees estimates that over 3.8 million people have fled Syria – to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.
The Impact on Children Children remain the most vulnerable in this crisis. Today, over 5.6 million children need assistance, including almost 2 million who have sought refuge in neighboring countries, many of which are themselves under-resourced and struggling to meet basic needs. Children inside Syria tell us that they feel hopeless. They have witnessed their friends and families being killed. Their homes are now rubble. Many have been tortured. They are hungry, often sick. They can’t find clean water. Hospitals are barely functioning. Even if their school is still standing, it’s probably far too dangerous to attend. Without an option of education, children we interviewed say they are considering joining armed groups to make money, or to make them feel safer. Others are engaging in dangerous labor, or risk being married off early to help support their struggling families.
With continued humanitarian support, Syrian children can still hold on to their hopes for a better future. Reem, 8, holds up a sign that says “I want to become a doctor”. Photo: Christian Hartmann/Save the Children
Save the Children’s Response Save the Children has been present in the Middle East for decades. Despite the danger inside Syria, we have reached over 1.1 million people, including over 570,000 children, with life-saving food baskets, education, health services, clean water, warm clothes and support for traumatized children. Across the region, over 2.3 million people, including over 1.5 million children, have benefited from our programs to date. In addition to securing shelter, urgent relief materials and water, sanitation and hygiene, Save the Children is pursuing an integrated approach that will prioritize education and child protection to ensure the future livelihoods of Syrian children will be secured in the region. To fully fund our commitments to provide these critical programs, we are seeking $10 million over the next year.
Restoring Education “We are losing an entire generation to illiteracy; we are jeopardizing the future of these kids, and the future of the whole region.” - Maher, a former teacher in Syria bad and I hated it. Now I am in this new school and I feel much better. I love the drawings and the colors on the walls. I love the English teacher the most, he is so kind and he teaches us so well. I want to become a doctor in the future and my wish is to always stay in this school and to never leave again because I have many friends here right now and I love my teachers.”
Our Response: Before the war, almost all of
Photo: Khalil Ashawi/Save the Children
Basma goes to school in northern Syria When Basma’s school was attacked during an airstrike in southern Syria and many students were injured, her family fled. This was only the first in a series of moves in the family’s desperate attempt to find safe places to stay, every time making sure Basma, 8, was able to continue her education. But once again, while in class in another town her family had settled in, her school was hit during an airstrike. This time, 20 of her classmates died. After this attack her family decided to move to the north of Syria. They have now settled in a town where Save the Children runs a school that Basma attends. Despite everything she has experienced, Basma is full of energy and loves going to school. Her wish is that she does not have to move again and that she can continue her education. “My family decided to move further to the north because at the time it was safer. But the first school we went to was so bad and the teachers used to hit us even for little things like if I forgot my homework. The teachers used to leave us most of the time alone in the class doing nothing; it was so
Syria’s children were enrolled in school. Four years into the conflict, Syria now has the second worst enrollment rate in the world, with over half of all children out of school and one quarter of schools damaged, destroyed or occupied by displaced people or armed groups. At least 160 children were killed in attacks on schools in 2014. Some 52,000 trained teachers have left the education system. Today, almost 3 million Syrian children are out of school, with 2.3 million inside Syria. Some highlights of our response are: Supporting 59 schools in northern Syria where, to date, we have helped 34,500 children access pre-school and primary school Running alternative learning programs and informal education in refugee camps and host communities Supplying school bags, uniforms and other essential school materials, and paying school fees Supporting 1,000 teachers through training and salaries so that they can provide children with high quality education, even under the most difficult circumstances in Syria Providing safe play areas and access to counselling for thousands of children across the region Repairing damaged schools and providing equipment, furniture and learning materials Launching back-to-school campaigns to encourage parents to enroll their children.
Protecting Children “We tell the children not to fight with each other. Most just need some attention and want to forget what they have been through. We spend a lot of time with the parents to make sure things are OK at home. It is important to do this if we are to make a lasting change.”
- Zanera, 26, Syrian refugee and caseworker in Erbil, Iraq
Kadar finds protection in a youthfriendly space in Iraq Kadar’s family left their home in Northern Syria last year because it was too dangerous to stay. Kadar explains: “Everything was so expensive and there was so much shelling. There was no gas. I remember everything about the situation and used to be so afraid. I could not sleep for a very long time because of the loud noise made by the shelling.” The family crossed the border to Iraq, where they rented a house for eight months. But it became too expensive. And Kadar’s father, who had been shot in the arm in a previous conflict, was unable to work. The family settled in a refugee camp with other relatives. At the camp, Kadar has found new hope by participating in Save the Children’s youth-friendly space. These centers give children and young people living in the camp a safe place to play, learn, interact with other children, talk through their experiences and get back to some sense of normality. Through these spaces, we can also identify vulnerable children who need immediate help to cope with what they have witnessed or experienced in Syria and ensure they get the support they need. “I have been coming to the youth-friendly Space for two months. I love music and learned to play the piano back in Syria. I am learning a lot here. I have not been to school for one year and one month but have just registered for the new school in the camp. I am waiting for it to open so I can go back and
Photo: Sarita Fritzler/Save the Children
learn. I want to be a music teacher in the future and I want to go back home to Syria after the war ends.”
Our Response: Children urgently require specialized care and protection to help them recover from the extreme psychological and emotional distress they have been through. Save the Children is:
Setting up child-friendly and youth-friendly spaces across the region, where children can learn, play and recover from the horrors of war in safety Providing child resiliency activities and establishing Parent-Child Centers Establishing, training and supporting community child protection committees and referring children in need of psychosocial help
Reclaiming Livelihoods and Health “I just see these people, and they need me. So I have to help them, because we are all human; we are brothers and sisters.” - Ghousoun, volunteer midwife at Jordanian refugee camp
Salem carries potatoes instead of books in Lebanon Thirteen-year-old Salem wakes up every morning around five and gets in the back of a crowded truck filled with women and children. The truck takes Salem to a potato field where he is given huge bags that he attaches to his waist. Salem is then expected to harvest no less than 30 bags of potatoes. “We have to be really fast and we mustn’t leave a single potato behind or else we get beaten with a plastic hose,” he says, holding back his tears. “Each bag weighs around ten kilos when full and I now have a constant backache.” Salem’s family had to flee Syria for safety. His father suffers from a nerve disorder, which has gone untreated because he cannot afford medical assistance; he is therefore unable to work. In a country, whose economy is in crisis, many employers often prefer employing children to adults because they can be easier to control and are paid a fraction of the standard daily wage for manual labor. Salem works to help out his family.
Our Response: We seek to help families make a living so that they do not have to send children to work, and to reduce their dependence on aid. We also address families’ concerns over food. We are: Conducting large-scale food distributions in Jordan, with bread for 74,000 refugees daily Distributing food vouchers to 75,000 refugees in Za’atari camp and host communities in Jordan Running cash-for-work programs in Lebanon so families can use their skills in community projects Offering technical/vocational training for youth in Lebanon and Egypt
Family moves to Egypt in search of health care Soon after Lama, 2, was born in Syria, she started having fainting spells and stopped breathing. Hager, her mother, tried to help her with the little first aid she knew because she was too afraid to go out of the house to seek medical help. “Sometimes I hold her upside-down, sometimes I give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.” Then their home was destroyed and robbed. And once the children started to have health problems, the family decided to move to Egypt. Lama’s condition has worsened. “Now she faints for about five or six minutes each time. She can’t breathe at all and her body turns blue. I am afraid that Lama will die. The nearest health facility is one kilometer away. It doesn’t provide checkups, only prescriptions. Before the conflict started, our life in Syria was wonderful. I had a house and shelter, and my children were going to school.”
Our Response: With the destruction of the health care infrastructure, lack of clean water and sanitation facilities and high rates of displacement, children in Syria are at increased risk of disease. And with growing food insecurity, they are vulnerable to malnutrition and illness. Save the Children is: Rehabilitating health centers and supporting them with equipment and medication Supporting vaccination campaigns to protect thousands of children against potentially deadly diseases, including polio and Hepatitis A and B Carrying out large-scale infant/young child feeding in Jordan, reproductive health and pediatric services in Lebanon Rebuilding water systems and constructing latrines to curb the spread of disease
Save the Children’s Priority Funding Needs for Conflict-affected Syrian Children and Families As the crisis in Syria enters its fifth year, humanitarian needs have reached a record high. The protracted nature of the conflict and the ensuing displacement of Syrian families have exhausted local resources and many families are struggling to make ends meet. Save the Children has identified the following funding gaps that need to be met for us to implement critical programs in the region.
host communities and refugees. Children and adolescents are the most vulnerable to protection risks, with nearly half of the refugee children out of school and an increasing number entering the labor market. $6 million to protect and educate children and their families in seven communities in northern Jordan to benefit 7,300 children and adolescents and 2,990 adults
Iraq
Turkey now hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees, with an estimated 1.6 million Syrians living in camps or host communities. The expected arrival of more refugees throughout 2015 is likely to place an additional economic and social burden on Turkey’s already strained resources.
Iraq today hosts over 240,000 Syrian refugees. Access to quality education remains a significant need among Syrian school-aged refugees, with an estimated 45 percent of households in the Dohuk region reporting their children out of school. In addition, unaccompanied and separated children, child labor, recruitment into armed groups, and specialized care for children under 5 remain major concerns.
$1.8 million to provide access to equitable, inclusive and quality learning opportunities in a protective learning environment for 1,980 Syrian refugee children in Hatay Province
$1.5 million to build resilience among 2,400 refugee children and youth living in non-camp urban settings in Semel District of Dohuk through support in child protection and education
Lebanon
There are also some 2.2 million internally displaced people (IDP) across Iraq. An estimated 75 percent of IDP children are out of school. There are also significant child protection needs in Sulaymaniyah and Diyala Governorates, including child labor, early marriage, recruitment into armed groups and gender-based violence.
Turkey
Lebanon has the highest refugee population per capita in the world, with more than 1.1 million registered Syrians in addition to existing Palestinian and Iraqi refugee populations. This social shift is threatening to destabilize Lebanon’s already fragile political system and is placing a huge strain on basic services. $5 million to strengthen early childhood care and development education and protection work for refugee children and youth in Beirut and the Bekaa governorate, to benefit over 4,000 children and more than 1,200 adults
Jordan Eighty-four percent of Jordan’s over 600,000 Syrian refugees live outside camps in poor host communities. Pressures on these already stressed communities has resulted in fissures between these
$1.5 million to respond to the immediate child protection and education needs of 2,400 vulnerable IDP children in Sulaymaniyah and Diyala Governorates in the Kurdistan Region